After a bit of a cold spell, my Friday lineup over at Star Fantasy Leagues really came together, putting up nearly 85 points and winning all three leagues in which it was entered, including the 76-person freeroll. It was a nice way to end the week and is something to build on to start the second-to-last week of the MLB regular season. So here is what I’ve come up with for today. To build a team yourself, head on over to SFL and use the promo code “SJN” for a 40% deposit bonus.
(C) Wilson Ramos $6,210 – Ramos has been good lately, with hits in eight of his last nine games. The best of them all came last night, though. He went 4-for-4 with a home run and five RBI. Now he gets to face Mike Minor, against whom he is 3-for-4.
(1B) Nick Swisher $5,834 – The Indians are right on the doorstep of a wild card berth and Swisher has been a key part of their late run. He has hits in eight of his last nine games and had two home runs last night. Even though he’s only hitting .244 on the season, he’s picking it up now at the most important time of the year.
(2B) Jose Altuve $6,808 – Altuve is continuing to put together a stellar September, hitting .435/.435/.581 in 14 games. He has hit safely in all but two games and has multiple hits in nine of them. Add to that his 35 steals this season, and he has some great potential tonight.
(3B) Chase Headley $5,572 – Headley has homered in three straight games and reached base in seven straight. He also has a RBI and run in four consecutive games. He is hitting .306/.390/.750 this month with five homers, which makes September his best month of the year.
(SS) Asdrubal Cabrera $5,571 – Cabrera has one hit in each of his last four games and three of them have been homers. He also scored in each of those four games. Cabrera is only hitting .235 on the season, so this is a bit of a risky play. But with his recent power surge, Cleveland’s need to win, and this price, I think he is worth it.
(OF) Denard Span $6,226 – With two more hits on Sunday, Span now owns a 26-game hitting streak. During that run, he is hitting .387 with two home runs, 18 runs and five steals. There is no reason to think Span will cool of now as Washington stays hot.
(OF) Wil Myers $5,919 – After hitting a bit of a slow patch, Myers is now back to leading the Rays’ offense, with hits in eight of nine games. He’s coming off a nice effort on Sunday, with two hits, two walks, two RBI, two runs, and a homer.
(OF) Will Venable $5,638 – Venable has a mini four-game hitting streak, but also has hits in nine of 11 games, and had three hits yesterday. He has been running a lot lately, too, with a stolen base in three of four. He has put together a very nice year, hitting .274 with 22 homers and 20 stolen bases.
(U) Carlos Santana $6,523 – With so much on the line now for the Indians, I expect them to be good tonight, as evidenced by three Clevelanders in my lineup. Santana might be the best of them all. He has a 10-game hitting streak with five hits and two walks in his last two games. He’s also been great against tonight’s starter, James Shields. In 11 career at bats, he has five hits, including two for extra bases.
(SP) Cliff Lee $17,642 – Lee has been one of the few reliable players in Philadelphia this year. He has quality starts in six of his last seven games and he is averaging nearly a strikeout per inning over that time. He gets a great matchup tonight against the Marlins. In his last game against them in May, he turned in a complete game shutout and allowed just three hits.
(SP) Sonny Gray $13,816 – Since joining the Oakland rotation last month, Gray has made seven starts and has gone at least six innings in five of them. He has allowed more than two runs just once and has a 9.6 K/9 rate this year.
(RP) Jonathan Papelbon $2,017 – Piggybacking off the Lee start, I expect Papelbon to get some work tonight after a solid outing by the Philly ace.
(P) Lance Lynn $11,450 – Lynn struggled through August and was in danger of losing his rotation spot for the Cardinals, but finally put things together his last time out. He went six innings against Milwaukee on Wednesday and gave up just one unearned run while striking out ten. I expect him to continue that run tonight against Colorado.
